Nigeria’s Central Bank has rebuffed the House of Representatives over its claim that the old, N200, N500 and N1000 will seize to be legal tender by December 31, 2024.
The apex bank said in a statement on Thursday that the banknotes will continue to remain legal tender, side by side with the new naira notes.
The Yemi Cardoso -led bank said this is in line with the Supreme Court judgement of November 29, 2023. Any report to the contrary, the CBN said should be disregarded.
The CBN in the statement signed by the Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Sidi Ali, said it has directed its branches nationwide, commercial banks, and deposit money nank, to continue to issue the old bank notes with the new ones in line with the Supreme Court judgement.
The CBN also urged Nigerians to continue to accept the old notes for their daily transactions.
The statement: “The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to discussions at different fora suggesting that the old series of the N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes shall cease to be legal tender on December 31, 2024. We wish to state categorically that such claims are false and calculated to disrupt the country’s payment system.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the order of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, granting the prayer of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to extend the use of old Naira banknotes ad infinitum, subsists.
“Similarly, the CBN’s directive to all its branches to continue to issue and accept all denominations of Nigerian banknotes, old and re-designed, to and from deposit money banks (DMBs) remains in force.
“It will be recalled that the Supreme Court ordered that the old series of N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes shall continue to be legal tender alongside the redesigned versions. Accordingly, all banknotes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will continue to remain legal tender indefinitely.
“We, therefore, advise members of the public to disregard suggestions that the said series of banknotes will cease to be legal tender on December 31, 2024.
“We urge Nigerians to continue to accept all Naira banknotes (old or redesigned) for their day-to-day transactions and handle them with the utmost care to safeguard and protect their lifecycle.”
The House of Reps had earlier directed the CBN to make clarifications on whether the old notes will remain legal tender beyond 31 December 2024.
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